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Ayah
Word by Word
قَالَ
He said
إِنَّهُۥ
Indeed He
يَقُولُ
says
إِنَّهَا
[Indeed] it
بَقَرَةٞ
(is) a cow
لَّا
not
ذَلُولٞ
trained
تُثِيرُ
to plough
ٱلۡأَرۡضَ
the earth
وَلَا
and not
تَسۡقِي
water
ٱلۡحَرۡثَ
the field
مُسَلَّمَةٞ
sound
لَّا
no
شِيَةَ
blemish
فِيهَاۚ
in it
قَالُواْ
They said
ٱلۡـَٰٔنَ
Now
جِئۡتَ
you have come
بِٱلۡحَقِّۚ
with the truth
فَذَبَحُوهَا
So they slaughtered it
وَمَا
and not
كَادُواْ
they were near
يَفۡعَلُونَ
(to) doing (it)
قَالَ
He said
إِنَّهُۥ
Indeed He
يَقُولُ
says
إِنَّهَا
[Indeed] it
بَقَرَةٞ
(is) a cow
لَّا
not
ذَلُولٞ
trained
تُثِيرُ
to plough
ٱلۡأَرۡضَ
the earth
وَلَا
and not
تَسۡقِي
water
ٱلۡحَرۡثَ
the field
مُسَلَّمَةٞ
sound
لَّا
no
شِيَةَ
blemish
فِيهَاۚ
in it
قَالُواْ
They said
ٱلۡـَٰٔنَ
Now
جِئۡتَ
you have come
بِٱلۡحَقِّۚ
with the truth
فَذَبَحُوهَا
So they slaughtered it
وَمَا
and not
كَادُواْ
they were near
يَفۡعَلُونَ
(to) doing (it)
Translation
He said, "He says, 'It is a cow neither trained to plow the earth nor to irrigate the field, one free from fault with no spot upon her.'" They said, "Now you have come with the truth." So they slaughtered her, but they could hardly do it.
Tafsir
He said, 'He says she shall be a cow not broken, not subdued for labour, that is, to plough the earth, churning its soil for sowing (tutheer al-ard: the clause describes the word dhalool, and constitutes part of the negation); or to water the tillage, that is, the land prepared for sowing; one safe, from faults and the effects of toil; with no blemish, of a colour other than her own, on her'. They said, 'Now you have brought the truth', that is, [now] you have explained it clearly; they thus sought it out and found it with a boy very dutiful towards his mother, and they eventually purchased it for the equivalent of its weight in gold; and so they sacrificed her, even though they very nearly did not, on account of its excessive cost. In a hadeeth [it is stated that], 'Had they sacrificed any cow, it would have sufficed them, but they made it difficult for themselves and so God made it difficult for them'.
"Bringing the murdered Man back to Life
Allah tells;
وَإِذْ قَتَلْتُمْ نَفْساً فَادَّارَأْتُمْ فِيهَا وَاللّهُ مُخْرِجٌ مَّا كُنتُمْ تَكْتُمُونَ
And (remember) when you killed a man and disagreed among yourselves as to the crime. But Allah brought forth that which you were Taktumun.
Al-Bukhari said that,
فَادَّارَأْتُمْ فِيهَا
(And disagreed among yourselves as to the crime) means,
""Disputed.""
This is also the Tafsir of Mujahid.
Ata' Al-Khurasani and Ad-Dahhak said,
""Disputed about this matter.""
Also, Ibn Jurayj said that,
وَإِذْ قَتَلْتُمْ نَفْساً فَادَّارَأْتُمْ فِيهَا
(And (remember) when you killed a man and disagreed among yourselves as to the crime) means,
some of them said, ""You killed him,"" while the others said, ""No you killed him.""
This is also the Tafsir of Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam.
Mujahid said that,
وَاللّهُ مُخْرِجٌ مَّا كُنتُمْ تَكْتُمُونَ
(But Allah brought forth that which you were Taktumun) means,
""what you were hiding.""
Allah said
فَقُلْنَا اضْرِبُوهُ بِبَعْضِهَا
So We said:""Strike him (the dead man) with a piece of it (the cow).""
meaning, ""any part of the cow will produce the miracle (if they struck the dead man with it).""
We were not told which part of the cow they used, as this matter does not benefit us either in matters of life or religion. Otherwise, Allah would have made it clear for us. Instead, Allah made this matter vague, so this is why we should leave it vague.
Allah's statement,
كَذَلِكَ يُحْيِي اللّهُ الْمَوْتَى
Thus Allah brings the dead to life,
means, ""They struck him with it, and he came back to life.""
This Ayah demonstrates Allah's ability in bringing the dead back to life. Allah made this incident proof against the Jews that the Resurrection shall occur, and ended their disputing and stubbornness over the dead person.
Allah mentioned His bringing the dead back to life in five instances in Surah Al-Baqarah.
First Allah said,
ثُمَّ بَعَثْنَاكُم مِّن بَعْدِ مَوْتِكُمْ
Then We raised you up after your death. (2:56)
He then mentioned the story about the cow.
Allah also mentioned the story of those who escaped death in their land, while they were numbering in the thousands.
He also mentioned the story of the Prophet who passed by a village that was destroyed, the story of Abraham and the four birds, and the land that comes back to life after it has died.
All these incidents and stories alert us to the fact that bodies shall again become whole, after they were rotten.
The proof of Resurrection is also reiterated in Allah's statement,
وَءَايَةٌ لَّهُمُ الاٌّرْضُ الْمَيْتَةُ أَحْيَيْنَـهَا وَأَخْرَجْنَا مِنْهَا حَبّاً فَمِنْهُ يَأْكُلُونَ
وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا جَنَّـتٍ مِّن نَّخِيلٍ وَأَعْنَـبٍ وَفَجَّرْنَا فِيهَا مِنَ الْعُيُونِ
لِيَأْكُلُواْ مِن ثَمَرِهِ وَمَا عَمِلَتْهُ أَيْدِيهِمْ أَفَلَ يَشْكُرُونَ
And a sign for them is the dead land. We give it life, and We bring forth from it grains, so that they eat thereof. And We have made therein gardens of date palms and grapes, and We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein. So that they may eat of the fruit thereof ـ and their hands made it not. Will they not then give thanks! (36:33-35)
وَيُرِيكُمْ ايَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
and shows you His Ayat (proofs, evidences, etc.) so that you may understand."
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